[Ayyub2007]

Hello everyone,


I am excited to be a new memberof the forum. I am certain that I will learn a ton from the large pool ofknowledge that can be found here.


I won two pieces of Emcomachinery at auction today; an F1 mill ($200) and a PC Turn 50 ($300). The F1 wasmissing the control center so there were no electronics with the system. It did however have all the iron as well as the x,y,z steppers, outercasing as the spindle motor.


From what I think I understand,the steppers are a 5 wire assembly that has an incompatible phase to run a BOBor controller board for mach3, but these steppers that are in here are 4 wireuni-polar steppers (KH56QM2-801) with 188oz-in. I think these are not theoriginal steppers. The wires that feed each axis have been spliced andone wire has been cut and is unused on each of the three axis leaving the 4wire setup/axis. The Z and Y axis have been converted to ballscrews but the X axis appears to be a lead screw.


With the work done to thismachine I am assuming (as I have no knowledge of the Emco machines) that therehas been a partial upgrade/conversion of this system which leaves me with somequestions that I can't seem to find any answers for. Any insight by thosemore learned would be very appreciated.

Question #1-

Do you believe that thesteppers are an upgrade/converted setup or are the steppers oem?

Question #2

Are uni-polar steppers a goodfit for that machine. I am looking to run an updated BOB/controllerwhether it be a Gecko 540 or a Sainsmart imported board. Would yourecommend a bi-polar stepper and what size for milling of plastic/acrylic,aluminum and light milling of ferrous metals.



Question #3


How would I power the spindlesince there is no power supply for it (I think)? I would like to be ableto use mach3 (as I am familiar with it) to not only turn the spindle on/off butfor variable speeds for smooth milling/drilling and tapping.

Here are some photos of theunit that will hopefully take the guess work out of my questions and to providesome clarity in case I am talking way out of my range here.

I am sure that I will have manyquestions as I become more and more familiar with this unit and I am excited tonot only learn, but to pass my knowledge onto others as I acquire it.

Thank you to everyone who readsand/or responds. Happy milling.

AA

[Grizzly_A]

Nice score! If you don't like it, let me know I'll take it off your hands for you.

Q1 & 2:
The stepper motors appear to be different, I think the factory installed ones were 135oz, but since they are only 188oz motors, replacements are inexpensive and it may be better to just start with the Gecko540 and new steppers that you know work. It might save you a lot of time troubleshooting.

Q3.
You'll need an DC power supply or a special board with a converter on it, which should have pinouts for adjusting speed. I put the polyspede OC1 on mine and wired it directly to AC with a potentiometer for manual control over the spindle speed.

Hope that helps get you started.